Frank Ansah’s late touchdown lifts Colonels

The football teams from North High and South High annually go at it with an extra helping of intensity and determination on Thanksgiving Eve, and last night’s pairing of the long-time Inter-High rivals offered more of the same.

South senior running back Frank Ansah came up big in crunch time, crashing the Polar Bears’ line for the tying touchdown and go-ahead conversion run with 58 seconds left to boost the Colonels to a 22-20 victory at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.

Ansah had a standout game, scoring two TDs and winning the John “Red” O’Neil MVP award. With two rushing TDs of his own, North junior running back Sam Castro won the John “Red” Comer MVP award.

North (2-9, 0-2) seemed to have the game in hand when senior Tommy Edwards intercepted a pass with 2:59 to go and the Polar Bears leading, 20-14. But the Colonels’ Mykel Deleo quickly returned the favor, intercepting a tipped pass at the South 3-yard line.

On the second play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Darwin Agyei chugged 46 yards into North territory, and then completed passes of 25 yards pass to Deleo and 20 yards to Jaquale Welds, who advanced the ball to the North 2. Ansah capped the 97-yard drive with a TD and then ran in the 2-point conversion for the win.

“When we were down, I told the kids, ‘We’re not going down without a fight,’ ” South coach Jerry Snay said. “North’s a good team and they’re going to battle us right to the very end. We get the ball back, we’re going to go right into our two-minute offense and we’re going to drive the ball right down the field. And we did. We put the ball in Frank’s hand and said, ‘Here you go, kid.’

“This was a great comeback and a typical game between two Inter-High teams,” Snay added. “In a city game, it doesn’t matter if you’re both 0-10. The city kids all know each other, they all come to play, and they battle it out.”

South (4-6, 2-1) led, 14-0, after one quarter. Ansah had a 5-yard TD run to account for the first score. Agyei threw an 11-yard TD pass to Welds for the second TD. Ansah ran in the conversion.

North tied it, 14-14, with two TDs in the second quarter — Edwards on a 1-yard keeper, and Castro on a 3-yard rush up the middle.

Castro’s 2-yard burst in the fourth quarter gave the Polar Bears a 20-14 lead.

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